Expression of genes by eucaryotes and procaryotes, while sharing the same basic steps of gene transcription into messenger RNA ( mRNA) and subsequent translation of that mRNA into proteins, employ different sets of intracellular controls for these steps.
Additionally, in eucaryotes many mature proteins are first translated as pre-proteins; i.e, polypeptides comprised of the mature protein's sequence fused to a leader or signal sequence. Eucaryotic mRNA encodes the entire pre-protein, which is processed after translation to remove the leader sequence and provide the mature protein. While eucaryotic cells are equipped to specifically process such pre-proteins into mature proteins, procaryotic cells are generally not able to recognize the processing signals present in eucaryotic proteins. Thus, if complete complementary DNA (cDNA) transcripts of eucaryotic mRNA are employed as the DNA sequences for expression in procaryotes, the pre-protein, not the mature protein, is found. It is possible to convert pre-proteins to mature proteins in vitro, but not without significant expense.
In the event that the DNA sequence encoding the mature protein is used for mature protein expression in procaryotes, this sequence will be lacking the eucaryotic translation and post-translation processing signals usually contained within the DNA for the leader sequence. Therefore, for expression of cloned eucaryotic genes or other heterologous DNA sequences in procaryotic systems, it has proven desirable to employ procaryotic control signals for reasons of efficiency and because eucaryotic signals may not be recognized by a procaryotic host cell.
The term "heterologous DNA" is defined herein as DNA at least a portion of which is not normally contained within the genome of the host cell. Examples of heterologous DNA include, but are not limited to, viral and eucaryotic genes, gene fragments, alleles and synthetic DNA sequences. The term "heterologous protein" or "heterologous polypeptide" is defined herein as a protein or polypeptide at least a portion of which is not normally encoded within the genome of the host cell.
The procaryotic control signals include a promoter which signals the initiation of transcription and translation control signals comprising a ribosome binding site, a translation start signal and a translation stop signal. All of these signals except the translation stop signal must be situated in front of the eucaryotic gene or other DNA to be expressed.
The art has adopted several approaches to expressing heterologous DNA (e.g. eucaryotic genes) in procaryotes. In one approach, the DNA segment encoding the resultant protein is ligated to the DNA encoding all or part of a bacterial protein under the control of its bacterial promoter. The endogenous procaryotic DNA necessarily also contains the ribosome binding site and translation start signal. Expression of such ligated DNA results in what is called a fusion protein comprising the eucaryotic polypeptide linked or fused to a whole or partial bacterial protein. Isolation of the eucaryotic protein may then be achieved by site-specific enzymatic or chemical cleavage at the endogenous-eucaryotic protein fusion site or by selective degradation of the procaryotic polypeptide sequences.
Examples of published works relating to the production in bacteria of eucaryotic fusion proteins include European Application 47,600 (published Mar. 17, 1982) which refers to fusion and non-fusion proteins comprising bovine pre-growth hormone or bovine growth hormone ("bGH") at the carboxy(C--) terminus with or without a portion of a procaryotic protein at the amino (N-) terminus; U.K. Patent Application GB 2,073,245A (published Oct. 14, 1981) referring to fusion proteins of bGH and E. coli .beta.-lactamase; E. Keshet et al., Nucleic Acid Research, 9:19-30 (1981) referring to a fusion protein of bGH and E. coli .beta.-lactamase; European Patent Application 95,361 (published Nov. 30, 1983) referring to a fusion protein comprising, in sequence, an endogenous protein at the N-terminus, a translation start signal amino acid, an enterokinase cleavage site, and an exogenous protein (e.g. growth hormone) at the C-terminus. This fusion protein approach, however, is cumbersome in that it requires in vitro processing following purification, and the cost cf enzyme(s) for processing commercial quantities can be prohibitive.
Fusion proteins, however, have become an attractive system for expressing some eucaryotic genes or other heterologous DNA in procaryotic cells, as the fusion product appears to protect some of the resulting heterologous proteins from intracellular degradation. Bacterial cells appear to recognize some eucaryotic proteins produced therein as foreign and, thus, proceed to degrade these proteins as soon as the proteins are made or shortly thereafter. Fusion proteins engineered for protective purposes can employ endogenous polypeptide sequences at either the amino or carboxy terminus of the heterologous protein. An example of the latter approach is found in European Patent Application 111,814 (published Jun. 27, 1984) describing fusion proteins comprising a form of bGH having a synthetic front-end (amino-terminus) and E. coli .beta.-galactosidase at the C-terminus. The advantages are, again, diminished by the need to subsequently cleave the heterologous protein from the endogenous polypeptide as discussed above.
In another approach, the translation start signal, ATG, under the control of a bacterial promoter, is located immediately preceding the DNA sequence encoding a heterologous (e.g. eucaryotic) protein free from endogenous protein at both the N- and C-termini of the protein produced. Although the proteins produced by such gene constructs do not require subsequent cleavage to generate the desired protein, they typically include a methionine (in some cases a formyl-methionine) at the N-terminus as the ATG start signal is also a methionine codon. Thus, unless the desired mature protein begins with methionine, the protein will now have an N-terminus altered by inclusion of that methionine residue.
Examples of such gene constructs include Guarente et al., Cell (1980) 20:543-553 wherein the rabbit .beta.-globin gene, which possesses an N-terminal valine, is expressed in E. coli employing the gene construct just described. The investigators found that whereas "In rabbit .beta.-globin, there is no amino terminal methionine, and leucines are found at positions 3, 14, 28, 31, 32 . . . .In the labeled protein, leucines were found at positions 4, 15, 29, 32 and 33, and a methionine was found at position 1. This result shows that the protein is rabbit .beta.-globin plus an amino terminal methionine which is not removed in E. coli." Id at 546-547.
Another example relates to the production of growth hormones in bacteria employing the above-described gene construct. Schoner et al. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1984) 81:5403-5407 describes a high level expression system in bacteria for production of bGH which results in production of an N-methionyl bGH; that is, a compound having an amino acid sequence like that of one of the naturally-occurring bGH species plus a methionine at its N-terminus. The addition of an N-terminal methionine to various growth hormone species produced in bacteria is again discussed in European Patent Application 103,395 (published Mar. 21, 1984) and European Patent Application 75,444 (published Mar. 30, 1983), for bGH, and Seeburg et al., DNA (1983) 2:37-45, for bGH and porcine growth hormone ("pGH").
Addition of an N-terminal methionine to the natural N-terminus may be undesirable for several reasons. First, it is possible (although currently believed unlikely) that the methionine may tend to make the protein antigenic in an organism in which the protein without the N-methionine is endogenous. Second, the addition of methionine to the N-terminal portion of the protein may have an undesirable effect on its bioactivity or its physical properties. Third, this altered form of the protein may hinder scientific efforts in determining the relationship of the natural protein's function to its structure. Further, it may be advantageous to have a biosynthetic protein which is structurally as close as possible to a naturally-occurring protein when applying for governmental approval of medical or veterinary applications.
The ability of such procaryotes as bacteria to remove the N-terminal methionine from proteins either during their production or thereafter has been a topic of considerable interest. For example, Waller, J. Mol. Biol. (1963) 7:483-496, examined the N-terminal amino acid composition of "soluble" and ribosomal proteins from a cell-free extract of E. coli, and European Patent Application 103,395 (published Mar. 21, 1984) discloses the removal of an N-terminal methionine from an eucaryotic protein produced in E. coli. Specifically, methionine is removed from one of two bacterially-produced bGH proteins both of which contain a serine residue immediately following to the originally-present N-terminal methionine. The gene construct employed in these studies, however, comprised a synthetic start sequence coding for 5'-methionine-serine-leucine-3' inserted immediately adjacent to the 5' end of a bGH coding sequence in which bases coding for the first 4 or 9 naturally-occurring amino acids had been deleted. Thus, the resultant protein produced in E. coli was a nonnaturally-occurring protein. U.K. Patent Application 2,073,245A (published Oct. 14, 1981) discloses that when met pro replaces ala in the mature bGH protein, "Met can be processed by bacteria to give modified bGH starting with the amino acid sequence Pro Phe Ala Pro".
There is, thus, a need to develop an economic and predictable means for producing in such microorganisms as bacteria heterologous (e.g. eucaryotic) proteins that do not have an N-terminal methionine. Specifically, it is especially desirable to develop a method whereby such proteins produced in bacteria do not require in vitro, post-fermentation processing and do not contain an additional, non-naturally occurring N-terminal methionine.
Growth hormones (also called somatotropins) are polypeptides produced and secreted by cells of the pituitary gland and are largely species-specific in their actions. In addition to their role in promoting skeletal growth, growth hormones affect a variety of metabolic processes including the stimulation of lactation, increased insulin release from the pancreas and glucagon secretion, and they exert a lipid-mobilizing effect. Exogenous administration of bGH to cattle, for example, has been demonstrated to increase milk production, feed efficiency and/or growth rate, decrease fattening time and increase the lean-to-fat ratio. It is still not fully understood, however, how the hormone exerts these multiple effects.
Extensive work with human growth hormone (hGH) has established that the hormone, as secreted by the human pituitary gland, is not a single molecular entity but a mixture of polypeptides. Fractionation of the various hGH species has resulted in the preparation of some hGH fractions with neither diabetogenic or lipolytic activities.
Similarly, bGH is produced by cattle in multiple forms. Specifically, four forms of bGH are produced which differ at two positions of the protein. The N-terminal amino acid can vary due to a presumed ambiguity in removal of the signal-peptide (leader) sequence so that the mature protein begins with either NH.sub.2 -phe-pro or NH.sub.2 -ala-phe-pro. In addition, there is a heterogeneity at amino acid 126 being either a leucine or a valine. This is apparently due to an allelic variation in the bovine population. Wallis (1969) FEBS Letters 3 118-120; Fellows and Rogol (1969) J. Biol. Chem 244:1567-1575; Fernandez et al. (1971) FEBS Letters 18:53-54, Fellows (1973) Personal comments in Recent Progress in Hormone Research 29:404: Santome (1973) Eur. J. Biochem. 37:164-170; Graf and Li (1974) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 56:168-176. The four molecular forms (species) of pituitary bGH are herein designated and abbreviated as follows:
______________________________________ Abbr. Structure ______________________________________ bGH(L) NH.sub.2 -phe(1)-pro(2) . . . leu(126) . . . COOH bGH(A,L) NH.sub.2 -ala(-1)-phe(1)-pro(2) . . . leu(126) . . . COOH bGH(V) NH.sub.2 -phe(1)-pro(2) . . . val(126) . . . COOH bGH(A,V) NH.sub.2 -ala(-1)-phe(1)-pro(2) . . . val(126) . . . ______________________________________ COOH
The bGH(A,V) and bGH(V) species are sometimes collectively referred to herein as "valine allelic bGH species" or "valine bGH species". Similarly, the bGH (A,L) and bGH(L) species are sometimes collectively referred to herein as "leucine allelic bGH species" or "leucine bGH species". The numbers assigned to the amino acids in the bGH proteins as abbreviated above are for purposes of identification and reference only.
Mills et al. (1970), J. Biol. Chem. 245: 3407-3415, similarly identified two cyanogen bromide fragments of porcine growth hormone (pGH) exhibiting a heterogeneity at their respective N-termini. Specifically, one fragment contained an N-terminal phenylalanine and the other an additional N-terminal alanine. These molecular forms of pGH are herein abbreviated as pGH(P) and pGH(A), respectively.
The entire DNA coding sequences and corresponding amino acid sequences for bGH(L) and pGH(P) have been published by Seeburg et al., DNA (1983) 2:37-45, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Pituitary cells of individual cattle have been generally found to contain a mixture of at least bGH(A,L) and bGH(L), or bGH(A,V) and bGH(V). N-terminal analysis of bGH proteins produced in cultured pituitary cells shows an approximately 50:50 mixture of molecules containing either an N-terminal phenylalanine (phe) or an N-terminal alanine (ala). Commercially available preparations, made from pooled pituitaries of many cattle, generally include all four molecular forms of pituitary bGH. Furthermore, it has been reported that about thirty percent of the molecules in bGH preparations obtained from pooled glands have valine replacing leucine at position 126. Ferandez et al. (1971) FEBS Letters 18:53-54. Standard biochemical methods for separating the four known bGH forms do not permit production of each or any one of these species on a commercial scale. Differing biological activities of these four forms of bGH would be desirably studied and made commercially available using each of the forms essentially free of one or more of the other three forms, and/or free of other proteins of bovine origin. The term "essentially pure" as used herein to describe a specific protein or proteins means essentially free from proteins and/or other substances with which the protein(s) is (are) associated in a natural environment or source. For those and other purposes, the objects of this invention include a method whereby at least some of those individual forms of bGH can be conveniently produced.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to produce in procaryotes eucaryotic or other heterologous polypeptides which do not have a methionine residue at the N-terminus.
It is another object of the invention to produce in procaryotes eucaryotic or other heterologous polypeptides that do not require in vitro processing to remove a methionine from the N-terminus.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method for production in procaryotes of eucaryotic or other heterologous polypeptides that have an N-terminal alanine without the need for in vitro processing.
Another object of the invention is to produce in procaryotes eucaryotic or other heterologous polypeptides that have the amino acid sequence essentially the same as a naturally-occurring protein which does not have an N-terminal methionine.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of producing in procaryotes polypeptides having the amino acid sequence found in mature eucaryotic polypeptides such as bGH(A,L), bGH(A,V) and pGH(A).
It is a still further object of the invention to provide bGH(A,L), bGH(A,V) or pGH(A) substantially free of proteins of bovine or porcine origin, respectively.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a class of bGH species which enhance milk production in cows to an advantageously greater extent.
The bGH polypeptides produced by methods of the present invention provide a means for potentiating such somatotropin activities as increased milk production, growth rate and/or feed efficiency.
These and other objects of the invention will be more fully apparent from the following general and detailed description of the invention.